Garment hanger



March 14, 1950 H. E. MALI ETAL 2,500,641

GARMENT HANGER Filed Dec. 19, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet l March 14; 1950 Y H. E. MALI l -rAL 2,500,641

GARMENT HANGER' y ra 2 March 14, 1950 GARMENT HANGER Filed Dec. 19, 1947 H. E. MALI EIAL I 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Mar. 14, 1950 GARMENT HANGER Harry E. Mali, Bonita Springs, Fla., and William S. Reier, Maywood, Ill.

Application December 19, 1947, Serial No. 792,650

1 Claim. 1

Many attempts have been made to solve the problem of packing suits for traveling without getting them wrinkled or creased. The wardrobe trunk does a fairly god job if it is not packed too full. The present invention, however, is particularly concerned with automobile traveling, for which the wardrobe trunk is unsuitable because of its size and weight. Even with other methods of travel the wardrobe trunk is often far from satisfactory because it requires special handling and usually must either be sent early or will arrive late. Various styles of suitcases having facilities for hanging coats and then folding them have been manufactured, but it is rare that a suit can be taken out of these in perfect condition. Many tourists traveling by automobile have hung suits inside of the car, or have carried them in a suit bag draped over the rear seat.

According to the present invention a case is provided which fits in the space of an automobile between the front and rear seats and which is just of the height and width required for properly hanging a suit therein without folding the coat. A box of this size does not objectionably obscure vision and leaves room for two passengers in the rear seat without undue crowding.

Such a case could be made of regular suitcase construction, but according to the present invention it is preferably made mainly of corrugated cardboard. 'In spite of this construction it has sufficient strength because it opens only at the top and because wooden support bars for the hangers stiffen the sides of the box. The various garments are made independently removable, in spite of the fact that the box is open only at the top, by supporting the hangers at the sides instead of supporting them from a pole or bar extending from front to rear, or transversely of the planes in which the suits lie. Special hangers have been devised for this purpose.

There has also been devised a special shirt hanger or shirt tree from which a plurality of shirts may hang without danger of being wrinkled. even around the collars. Six shirts can easily be hung by one such hanger within the case already mentioned. Such a shirt tree may also or alternatively be provided with a hook for hanging on conventional types of hanger supports, such as poles.

The case is preferably provided with handles on opposite sides thereof but so near the top that if the case is carried by one handle it will hang down in a position not very far offset from the vertical. With an inexpensive corrugated board 2 case, the handles may be formed merely by cuttin tongues in the sides of the box just below the wooden bars so that the bars will serve as the handles. Such a construction is one which may be easily sealed up in the event that there is a desire to use such a case for mothproof storage of garments.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view, not drawn to scale, illustrating the positioning of the case within an automobile.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the garment hanger being removed for clarity.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 showing a shirt tree with shirts on one side thereof.

Fig. 4 is a view of the case shortly before completion.

Fig. 5 is a view showing the preferred form of suit hanger.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view showing a modified construction of shirt tree such as might be used mainly for hanging in closets.

Fig. 7 is a somewhat reduced elevational view of another modified form of garment hanger embodying our invention.

Although the law requires a full and exact description of at least one form of the invention. such as that which follows, it is, of course, the purpose of a patent to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how it may later be disguised by variations in form or additions of further improvements; and the appended claim isintended to accomplish this purpose by particularly pointing out the parts, improvements, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

The form of the invention chosen for illustration includes a case I I which is preferably of folding box construction. The preferred material is corrugated cardboard having a finished sheet on both side of the corrugated sheet. Preferably the front l2, the back l3 (Fig. 4), the sides 14, and the bottom flaps l6 are all formed by the same piece of corrugated boarding. The top or cover l1 may be formed as a tongue on the back I3 but present indications are that to avoid wastage of material it will be cut from a separate piece and hinged to the back I3 by cloth tape l8. As seen in Fig. 2, it is preferred that there be two cloth hinge tapes l8, one on the inside and one on the outside. This will give considerably better durability than one cloth hinge l3 alone.

The cover I1 is preferably scored at 2| to provide a flap 22 which extends down along the front of the case where it may be secured by a suitable fastener 23. The front flap 22 adds considerable strength to the cover and also rigidifies the box when the cover is closed and fastened. The top H is also provided with an intermediate scoreline 24 so that in automobiles where the hp is quite low the case cover can be folded sufliciently in the middle to open wide without striking the top of the car.

A pair of wooden support bars 26 is provided.

One of these is secured firmly to each side l4 near the top thereof by-screws 21 which bear on washers 28 through which they pass. The support bars 26 are provided with a plurality of downwardly extending holes 23 which may be drilled into the bars 26. The holes 29 are adapted to receive downwardly extending pins 3| formed at the ends of the various hangers.

The suit hanger is preferably of the form shown in Fig. A main bar or wire 32 is preferably straight across its top and provided with downwardly turned ends to form pins 3|. A second wire is bent to form the garment loop 33 with its ends 34 at the center extending upwardly and butt-welded to the bottom of wire 32. A third wire 36 is welded at its ends to main wire 32 and at its center to the lower portions of vertical ends 34 of the garment loop 33. The garment loop 33 of course includes shoulder portions 31 and a. horizontal wire 38.

It will be observed that the portion of the construction comprising wires 32 and 36 and the intermediate portions of wires 34 forms a beam construction which is quite rigid in the vertical direction and therefore adequately supports the garment from the support bars 26. The holes 29 in the support bars are preferably substantially larger in diameter than the pins 3| for ease of insertion of the pins'therein. The holes 29 may be flared outwardly at their tops.

Another form of hanger, designed especially for shirts as they are folded by laundries, is shown in Fig. 3. In this instance there is provided a vertical wire or bar 4| which is welded to wires 42 and 43 .to form a beam, the ends of wire 43 being downwardly turned to form pins 3|. Preferably the pins 3| are connected to the wire 43 by a gooseneck curve 44. The purpose of this is to lower the body of wire 43 far enough below cover I! to leave room for draping garments over the bar 43. There might also be a hanger comprising only a wire shaped like the wire 43. This would serve for supporting very light articles such as vneclrties. Although such light articles might not need the space provided by the gooseneck 44, this gooseneck would also serve to prevent such articles'from sliding off the hanger too easily as the hanger is lifted from the case.

The vertical wire 4| has welded to it three horizontal wires 46. Of course the number may be varied. Each end of the wires 46 is turned up wardly as seen at 41 to prevent a shirt hanging on the wire 46 from falling off too easily. On each of the six arms formed by the three wires 46 a shirt 48 may be hung. It appears to be the universal practice in laundries to fold shirts to the dimensions of approximately 8 x 16 inches. Accordingly, the lengths of the flat parts of the arms are made exactly 8 inches or slightly greater than 8 inches. These arms may. be inserted through the bottom fold of the shirt and the shirt hung on the arm with the top of the shirt downwardly, so that the bottom fold of the shirt rests on the arm;

The spacing of the arms one above another is preferably such that the collar of one shirt will be almost entirely above the collar of the nexL lower shirt, as seen in Fig. 3. As shirts are folded, the collars usually occupy about 5 inches lengthwise of the shirts, and hence the wires 46 are preferably spaced about 5 inches apart. It is very desirable that the wires 46 be at least 4 inches apart, 4 inches being still safer, so as to prevent any overlap between the portions of the collars which are easily crushed. A little overlap of one collar with the tip of the other collar is not objectionable because the tip portion can lie fiat on the shirt anyway, and hence does not need much room to avoid being crushed.

The shirt hanger can be provided with a hook 5| connected as by a twisted wire 52 and a pair of loops 53 with the upper wire 43. When the rack is takenout of the case M the hook 5| may be used to hang the rack from a'clothes pole or other conventional support.

This form of shirt rack has proved to be highly desirable even when the case M is not being used. Accordingly, a modification of the shirt rack has been developed for use solely with conventional hanger supports such as clothes rods. Such shirt racks are provided with hooks 54 which are rigidly mounted in the natural position of use. One form of construction is shown in Fig. 6. Here a vertical aluminum rod 56 is bent to form the, hook 54. Aluminum arms 5'! are secured to the vertical rod 56 by being threaded into collars 56 which may he slipped onto the rod 56 with a drive fit, so that they will stay in place. Of course they could be welded in place if preferred. Preferably there are six arms 51, each arm being turned partially upwardly as seen in Fig. 3 where the arms are formed by wires 46. In other words. the shirt hanger'ofwhich a fragment is illustrated in Fig. 6 may be deemed to be substantially identical with the shirt hanger of Fig. 3 except for the structure for supporting the hanger, and except for the different type of construction illustrated. Of course either form of hanger could be constructed as the other one hasbeen illustrated. The form shown in Fig. 3, with or without the hook 5|, is preferred for use in conjunction with case M inasmuch as such use will ordinarily be temporary and economy is at present preferred. The aluminum rod type of Fig. 6 is at present preferred for more permanent shirt racks designed for regular use in closets. Of course the terms "wire and rod may be used interchangeably, the wires 46 and the rods 51 both being wire rods.

Although various sizes of material may be used, the hanger shown in Fig. 3 is preferably made'of eight-gauge wire except for the tension wire 42 which may be somewhat lighter. The aluminum wires used in the structure shown in Fig. 6 are preferably substantially larger in diameter so as to be not only strong enough to support the shirts reliably, but also to have the appearance desired for a hanger of its character.

The case M is preferably provided with handholes 6|, each of which may be formed by cutting a tongue 62 in a side I 4 of the case. The handholes 6| are preferably positioned just below the support bars 26 as seen best in Fig. 2. Thus if a hand is inserted through the handhole 6| the fingers will naturally pass under the support bar 6 26 so that the support bar 26 becomes a handle for the case.

The cases of this invention will usually be sold in collapsed form. This could be in the completely opened-out form seen in Fig. 4. More probably, however, the blank seen in Fig. 4 will have been folded along the line between the middle panel I4 and the front i2. In this event, the righthand panel ll may be secured to the rear panel i 3 by tape 64. If not secured at the time of scale, it will merely be necessary to wet this tape 66 and press it to the panel ll. Likewise a tape 66 is carried by one of the longer bottom flaps l6. After the shorter flaps I6 have been turned inwardly to a perpendicular position, the bottom flaps l6 will be folded to this position and secured together by the tape 66. The tape 66 is preferably long enough to extend upwardly a little way along the sides of the case to which it is secured. The tape 66 need merely be wet and pressed against the surface to which it is to adhere. Both the tapes 64 and 66 are preferaibly of the type commonly known as gummed cloth tapes.,

The side panels l4 are preferably already provided with holes 61 for the reception of screws 21 and the support bars 26 preferably also have holes started for these screws. Hence the bars 26 may easily be secured in place with the three screws, which will be furnished, and a screw driver.

The front panel l2 will preferably be provided with small slots 68 through which the prongs of the fastener 23 may be inserted and bent around a washer or disk which will be placed on the inside of the case. The fastener 23 may be of any conventional type, such as the type having an end portion elongated in one direction and which may be turned to lie transversely of an elongated hole 69 through the end flap 22 of the cover 11. The elongated hole 69 may be conventionally reenforced with a metal collar having lugs extending through the cardboard and bent around a corresponding shaped washer on the inside thereof. This will usually be applied before initial sale inasmuch as it does not take up much room.

From the foregoing it is seen that a very satisfactory case has been provided for carrying suits and other garments when traveling by automobile. It can be made at very low cost and will nevertheless ordinarily give very good service. It is of Just the size required for carrying suits without any danger that they will become wrinkled or creased. A shirt rack is also provided which facilitates the carrying of shirts with equal safety in the case, or supporting the shirts in a closet or the like.

Other materials may be used for any of the parts of the invention. The case could be of leather or fabric or plastic. The hangers could be of plastic or plywood, or shaped from sheet metal.

Many other modifications are also possible. For example, the downturned ends 3| could be omitted and the bars 26 provided with notches or other recesses to receive the outstanding ends of the beams forming the upper parts of' the hangers. In' Fig. 6, the hook. could be displaced angularly from the plane of the arms 51 so that r it could hang on the front i2 of the case ii if use of this construction of the shirt tree should be desired in the case ii. The raw edges of the walls l2 and i4 and of cover I! are preferably finished off or bound with gummed tape for durability and appearance.

Modifications of the shirt hangers may be used for hanging a plurality of unfolded shirts in closets. When shirts are laundered at home they are quite often hung on coat hangers instead of being folded. A substantial supply of shirts on an equal number of hangers takes up substantial room in a closet and this is often objectionable.

tical rod 16 having integral and similarly shaped hooks 1| and 12 at the opposite ends thereof. Cross wires or members 13 are mounted on the rod 10 in the same manner as the cross wires 46 (Fig. 3) or 51 (Fig. 6), thereby providing a plurality of arms 14. The arms 13 each have a slope about half as steep as that conventional for the shoulders of coat hangers. When the hanger is hung with one end (hook 1 I) of the rod 10 uppermost, the arms 13 slope downwardly from the rod and their tips 15 are turned downwardly so that the two aligned arms (on the opposite sides of the rod 16) together form one hanger for an unfolded shirt. With the other end (hook 12) of the hanger uppermost the arms slope slightly upwardly from the vertical rod 10 and the tips 15 are turned upwardly. A folded shirt such as the shirt 48 (Fig. 3) may then be hung from each arm 13 in the same manner as indicated in Fig. 3. Although this would tend to make the folded shirts hang outwardly away from the vertical bar or rod 10, this is not objectionable in a closet. It would have the advantage that if a single folded shirt is hung from one of the arms 13 the unbalanced effect would not tilt the armdo nwardly much, if any, below the horizontal. With the hanger of Fig. 6 a single shirt tilts the arm 51 downwardly but from experience it is known that it will not slide off because it is restrained from doin so by the upturned tip or restraining element of the arm.

For the purpose of hanging folded shirts. the degree of sloping shown for the shoulders 31 in Fig. 5 would be objectionable to most people. In fact, any sloping at all is likely to be objectionable from an aesthetic standpoint and under some conditions may cause some wrinkling of the shirts. Accordingly, arms wh ch are substantially horizontal or slope only slightly as shown in Fig. '7 are at present preferred, except in shirt racks designed solely for unfolded shirts.

Although dimensions of the case may be varied to suit the convenience of varying situations, it may be helpful to give those which have been found to be satisfactory and which are at present greatly preferred over any wide departures therefrom. A height of 34 inches has beeniound to accommodate most suit coats without any folding along the bottom. A width of 20 inches has been found to be suflicient to receive the width of almost all coats without undue crowding at the sleeves. A third dimension of about 12 or 12% inches has been found suflicient to meet the needs of most travelers. Although ten holes 29 for receiving hangers have been shown in Fig. 2, eight such holes spaced slightly wider apart is probably more than enough. Dimensions much larger tional to the dimensions given inasmuch as the box is illustrative. The dimensions of the hangers are however substantially proportional to those which have been found tobe satisfactory, although the vertical dimensions are shown slightly less relatively than the tested models, as indicated by comparing the drawings with the dimensions given for the shirt hanger of Fig. 3.

We claim: 9

A garment hanger comprising a central support member, a hook element fixed to an end of said support member, a plurality of similar spaced cross members spaced from said hook element, said cross members each having its inner portion fixedly secured to said support member at substantially uniformly spaced intervals therealong to provide two substantially parallel rows of arms along the opposite sides oi said support member. the spacing between the inner ends of the arms of each pair being equal and substantially less than the spacing between adjacent cross members, said cross members being so shaped each of the arms formed thereby extendsfrom said support member in a substantially straight line and at substantially the same angle, said angle being such that said arms slope toward one end of said support member, and elements at and integral with the ends of said arms, each said element being disposed at substantially the same angle so as to extend toward one end of said central support member, said last-named angle being greater than the angle between said arms and said central support member.

HARRY E. MALI.

WILLIAM S. REIER.

REFERENCES crrnn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

